RE: On-line reservation timing
Hoping for Kodachrome after labor day, stay 10 days to two weeks....specific September dates pretty open.
10am eh? Hmmm, I'll be in the Eastern time zone when availability may open up. Sounds like doing some availability testing ahead of time as you suggest may be in order.

On-line reservation timing
I am about to have to enter the wild and wooly world of timing a reservation to a campground. In this specific case, a spot in one of the Utah state parks. Sites become available starting 4 months prior to the first date. To make it harder, you can then reserve up to 13 days into the closed period, which means there may be many sites already taken due to earlier reservations. So there might not be much available.
Does this mean getting on-line at 12:00:01 am? And if so - given that some of these centers may be somewhere else in the world, what time zone? Mountain time, because it is Utah, or some other?
Although I am asking about a specific state, any words of wisdom you have for tackling other National or State reservation systems would be appreciated.
Kinda a bummer to have key elements of a travel plan hang on the roll of the dice...but I guess that is the price we pay for RV'ing being so popular!

RE: Bryce/Zion with dogs...
Thanks for the update. I saw the reference to the first, but it seems likely that they are out of business.
Any general recommendations for campgrounds? Kodachrome might be close to first choice, but it's not available for the length of our stay in May, so private ones may have to be next on the list.

Bryce/Zion with dogs...
Looking at either a May or September first time trip to this area. We will have 2 Australian Shepherds with us. Looking for something to accommodate the 30ft 5th wheel, full hookup (plan on about 10+ days in the area). While we are older, we are still interested in "easy" hiking and biking. Dog walking on the trails is a plus - so may spend some time in Kodachrome and Escalante.
National Parks seem to be not very dog friendly. Any recomendations for a campground that either is not bothered by dogs unattended in the camper (provided they make no noise, of course), or campgrounds and kennels within a reasonable distance of each other, so we can tour Bryce/Zion on day trips w/o dogs?

RE: How to do a bike rack on a 5th wheel with no receiver?
$500 for a hitch is not that bad. You'll be close for on for the front of the truck. Do a search, there are also a few bike solutions that effectively come off the pin box, putting the bikes in front of the 5th's end cap. Or there is always the top of the trucks cab.
I would never think of using the ladder - as noted, it's just not built for the bounce-bounce-bounce.
If doing a rear receiver, be very careful about the brand/model of bike rack. Only a few are designed for the bouncing, which is far more than would happen on the back of a car/truck. Your receiver will stay on, but the rack itself may fail and fall off.... You have to sometimes dig into the instructions before you find out that a particular model is not intended for RV use.

RE: Drone deliveries and dogs
I've flown RC aircraft for many years. Our club had to institute a leash rule for dogs. Mine tend to ignore the activity (Australian Shepherds), but we've seen many a lab or similar run down the runway trying to grab a plane (helicopter/quadrocopter("drone")) from the air that was trying to land.
As far as shooting them down - that's a no-no - you do not have rights to the air above your property. Not the same order, but legally would be in the same bucket as trying to shoot down a low flying plane (minus the attempted murder part). Gotta wait until it touches down, then you can get into the legal wrangling over "found" items.

RE: Dogs out west and hazards to avoid...
Thanks all, good advice. While we traveled in SDak, NDak, Wyo, Mont, Oregon and Cal this past summer, we really never went much beyond commercial campgrounds, state parks, and the like. The Utah trip would be a lot more hiking and "back country" (well, not major crowd anyway) than previously. The dogs are Australian Shepherds - one 7rs old ~50 lbs, the other 12 yrs @ 55 lbs. So while up north in Minn. I have to think about them encountering wolves, I'm not too worried about coyotes bothering them. Already protected for heartworm, ticks, etc. They'd be indoors with us every night, except for maybe a campground potty walk, if needed.
Mostly worried about spiders and scorpians, and snakes to much a lesser degree. Hiking along a trail, there have to be all sorts of interesting places to put a nose. Good to know it is something to be aware of, but not a constant threat (kinda like wolves!).
Active dogs, so an off leash place to throw a ball would be nice - but it is not required, esp. if there might be safety concerns.

Dogs out west and hazards to avoid...
We're contemplating a few weeks this year to visit some of the Utah parks. While National parks aren't very dog friendly, it looks like state parks are better (leashed on trails, etc.). Plus, of course, the non-National Park land areas.
But a warning on the state park web site about not putting hands under plants, rocks, etc. along the trails due to snakes, scorpions and spiders got me thinking about the dogs....
So what kind of precautions should I take to avoid potential problems? Leave them in the camper (I hope not, as being able to bring them was exactly why we got a camper...)
Any hints and tips?

RE: Badlands, and wind cave S. Dakota that bad?
I love stopping at the Badlands. It's not that big, and therefore limited in variety of "things to do", but bad?? No way! Not a destination park, but definitely a layover location.
Can't speak to Wind Cave - been to Black Hills too many times years ago, so tend to skip the whole area these days in favor of further west locations.

RE: Inexpensive places to summer over in WI, MI, or MN
Especially Minn and Wisc, what you are hoping to do is what EVERY resident of the state hopes to do (at least it seems like it). Buy an RV and use it as an alternative to purchasing the expensive "cabin on the lake". That drives the price of finding a place to put it.....$1,000 a month is about average up here. Most spaces are rented for the entire summer.
Base camps - those not on a body of water, are pretty few and far between unless they are oriented toward the single night traveler.
You may be better off doing a week or two at a time at the state park - but get going on reservations now!

RE: Does Such A Computer Program Exist?
Do a Google search for "Nutritional Calculators". There are lots. For decades I was the administrator for one of the big names in the commercial field, CBORD's "Food Management System" - uses the USDA's database, along with many others, to do what you are asking ( and a lot more things needed for managing commercial food operations).
For private, one off use, I'm currently using "MyFitnessPal" (google it). It does pretty much the same thing, focused on managing weight loss. But it gives me good info on sodium, vitamins, and all the rest, too. Not very good if you want to get into menu planning, but for creating single recipes, it's pretty easy to use. You can even scan package bar codes using your smartphone to have it call up all of the label information automatically, right into the recipe.
If you really want one for meal/menu planning, call your nearest University Food Science/Nutrition school and ask for their recommendations. Then you will get one that you know will be using the best data possible.

RE: Financing an RV
I hesitate to suggest this, as most think it is a very bad idea....but if you have built up good equity in your house, you might look at a refinance of that to give you the money to buy the RV with cash. In our case, two years ago, we had 6 yrs left on the mortgage, at 4.8%. Doing a refi got us our fifth wheel and an 8 year mortgage at 2% (!!!) So monthly house payments only went up a little, and it's not very much longer till the payoff of both.
Current interest rates aren't that good, but they are still very low. It would at least be worth the time to crunch the numbers to see if you can make it work out to avoid the long repayment period that quickly puts you massively upside down in your value and equates to huge amounts of interest payments.

RE: Sharing My Name and Address
Because Motorhome is owned by Good Sam Enterprises, just like the GS Club, Camping World, Trailer Life, this web site and the rest. They view it as "keeping it within the company". So your info wasn't sold. Surprised that you are blaming Motorhome specifically, as your sig. says you are a GS member - could have come from that, too!

RE: Mt Rushmore-Yellowstone
This is a very common request for information, so you can find out LOTS by doing a search. Almost all roads are "main roads", so no issues with gas, etc. Towns are a bit apart, though, so don't push until almost empty.
RESERVE campsites NOW for your destinations. Very popular areas. We did a drive through of both this past summer, on the way to the west coast, and while we found overnight places a day ahead, they would not be preferred if we really intended to stay a bit.
Not like the old days where you could just show up around 10-11 am and be pretty assured of getting a campsite.

RE: To reserve or not to reserve
We did N. California and Oregon coast last July/August. There were some very hairy moments searching for places. Always finally did, and did not have to find a Wal-Mart, but it was pretty nerve wracking. Anything near a beach fills VERY early. Me - I'm almost always gonna reserve places for the "popular" locations. Otherwise, I'll be the day before when we are traveling.

Route suggestions - Minn. to Washington DC
Looking to be in DC about the first week of April (hopefully for the Cherry trees, although we know that is a chancy item, at best). Pulling our 5th wheel.
We know Minn/Wisc and even Iowa, Illinois, etc. aren't really camping possibilities for a road trip that early. How far south would you advise we drive before turning left to the coast and DC? Looking for best opportunities for full hookup camping and good driving weather, especially over any mountainous terrain. Minimization of propane use and chance of plumbing freezing would be preferred.
Down to St. Louis and then I-64, etc. over - further south to Nashville, then I-40 and over, or as far south as Mississippi, over and back up?? Interesting layover suggestions along the way appreciated!
Time constraints are pretty loose, so if we have to drive further, we can just start earlier - but that backs us more in to March, which can be snow/blizzard season in Minn.!
Any suggestions for cool places to hang out for an additional week after we've done in D.C.? If there is a drive to get there, we don't mind. Would prefer a more "outdoorsy" place after the urban sightseeing of DC, but does not necessarily mean "roughing it".

RE: North Dakota Campground Help
Google maps shows rail lines. When looking at North Dakota, type in "campgrounds" in the search box, and it will show where they all are. Follow I-94 to see if you can find one near the RR line, too.
May not get all, but it will help you find most of the available camping areas.
10 years is a long time - it may be gone.

RE: 600 watt pure sine wave inverter
Also, remember that they draw power even when nothing is plugged into them, so you want to turn them off when not actively using. Many have as an accessory a remote switch to do so if it is inconvenient to always press the buttons on the box. Another thing to install and run wire to!